The weather damp and a bit gloomy when we arrived in Bibury, a picturesque village in the Cotswolds where the humans had booked a cottage for a couple of nights.
We arrived too early to check into our accommodation, so the humans parked the car and we walked into Bibury.
Many humans visit Bibury to see Arlington Row, a row of 17th century weaver’s cottages situated next to a water meadow. Bibury gets very busy with tourists at weekends and during the main holiday season, but fortunately there weren’t too many there on a damp April morning.
We set off to do a 5 mile circular walk from the village and saw some lovely scenery. I did travel in the bear carrier for a few miles as my short legs get tired quite quickly trying to keep up with the humans with their long legs.
The walk ended at Arlington Row. These cottages were first built in the 14th Century as a monastic wool store before being converted into weaver’s cottages in 17th Century.
I walked on past the lovely old cottages towards the river Coln.
Here I am posing on the bridge with a shop and cafe behind me known as ‘Number Eleven’
Inside ‘Number Eleven’ I had a very delicious meal, sweet potato and paprika salad.
A craft fair was in progress in Bibury Village Hall. I enjoy a mooch around a craft fair especially if the creators of the products for sale are hosting their own stalls.
There were many beautifully crafted items inside. I bought a dried flower arrangement for my human and a rather lovely crocheted teddy bear caught my eye, so we bought, or should I say, ‘adopted’, the bear.
The crocheted bear didn’t have a name, just a label stating ‘Hand Made £15’. We decided to name him Bibury Bear, then he will always remind us of our trip to Bibury
Our holiday accommodation was up a hill and about a 15 minute walk from Bibury Village Hall. We stayed in a cottage situated at the end of a building that had once been a stable block.
I hung up my hat and coat and did my usual holiday home exploration, including trying out the bed.
Bibury Bear seemed very happy with the accomodation too…
The owner of the cottage had left us some chocolate croissants which didn’t take long to eat.
Prior to going to sleep we enjoyed looking through a book about Cotswold houses.
Our plans changed slightly the next day as my human had a migraine and needed to rest for a few hours. I went out for a wander around on my own.
The stable cottage is in the grounds of a large house with lovely gardens all around.
Sometimes we take ready meals with us on holiday breaks especially short breaks as we don’t like to spend all our time cooking! I tucked in to a rather tasty vegetable lasagne made by Charlie Bigham.
My human was feeling a bit better, which was as well as we had tickets booked for ‘An evening with Prue Leith’ in Cirencester. I was hoping to get a photo of me with Prue so I brushed my fur and put on my special batik shirt,
When we arrived at the venue there were lots of other people also waiting to see Prue, though without wishing to sound vain, I do think I was the best dressed individual in the auditorium.
There was a book stall at the event selling Prue’s books. I opted for ‘Bliss on Toast’. After queuing for a little while to see Prue she dedicated my book to me and we had a cuddle.
My human also bought ‘Being Old and Learning to Love’ it. I am looking forward to trying out the recipes in my book.
The following day before driving home (Bristol isn’t far from the Cotswolds) we visited Bourton on the Water, another place which gets very busy in the main holiday season.
The highlight of the trip was the visit to the model village, which was built in 1937 and is a 1/9 scale replica of the town as it was in 1937.
I felt very big inside the model village! The interesting thing is that there is a model village of the model village in the model village, and inside that even smaller model village of the model village….
Here I am leaving the model village inside the model village and outside of it!
Cotswold Motor museum was just up the road so we called in there too.
Lots of very old cars are crammed into the motor museum. There were lots of ‘do not touch’ signs but bears were allowed to sit in the tractor.
In an outside area I was delighted to find some bear sized bicycles. There were also helmets to borrow, so after putting one on my head I had a little pootle about.
Back inside the museum again I was pleased to find some bear sized cars, but with more warnings not to touch!
These little cars are all pedal cars made for children except the grey one, which was one of the first UK attempts at an electric vehicle (made in 1985). The Sinclair C5 didn’t go down very well with humans, it was very low on the ground, didn’t have a roof and could only travel 20 miles before needing to have the battery charged
Cotswold Motor Museum is very proud to be the home of a little car called Brum. Brum was the star of a children’s television show that was on tv from 1991 – 2002.
My human can remember watching Brum with her children, his headlights acted as his eyes!
No one is allowed to sit in the real Brum, but there is a replica model for bears and small humans to ‘drive’, which I very much enjoyed!
We had a lovely couple of days in the Cotswolds, with the highlight for me being finally meeting Prue Leith (followers of my Facebook page may recall that we tried to see her in Bath a few weeks earlier, but got the wrong day!)
For more information see:
Our accomodation https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/cotswold-stable-cottage
Bibury https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/gloucestershire-cotswolds/bibury
Bourton on the Water Model Village www.theoldnewinn.co.uk/model-village
Cotswold Motor Museum Home – Cotswold Motoring and Toy Museum
Horace the Alresford Bear 23/4/2026
We then set off along the path to explore the estate and the manor house. The house used to belong to Charles Wade, who started collecting things when he was seven years old. In 1951 Mr Wade gave the house and its contents to the National Trust. The first interesting item that I spotted was a windmill with lots of little wooden men that moved around as the sails turned.
The windmill is a replica of the original one which is kept inside to protect it from the weather. The windmill was on a tall post, not on top of my head as in this photo!
Further along I was delighted to find a special area for bears, though the humans said it was for children really.
I spent a while exploring; the humans couldn’t see where I was until I popped up over the fence.
I was very pleased to find a little bear shelter in the woods too.
In the orchard I climbed up into one of the trees to get a closer look at the shiny red apples.
After walking up through the cottage gardens I clambered up onto a wall to have a look at all the doves sat on top of the dove cote.
I forgot to ‘mind my head’ in a couple of places but as my head is quite soft luckily it didn’t hurt much.
There was a bear sized typewriter of the sort that would have been used during the first world war. I like being able to see the type hammers going up and down hitting the paper on old-fashioned typewriters. 
Here I am outside the main Manor House. Mr Wade didn’t live inside the Manor House, he had lived in a much smaller building in the garden called The Priest’s House. Over 400 years ago the house and gardens were part of an Abbey.
This is the bathroom in the Priest’s house. The bath looked very deep; Mr Wade must have been able to sit in it with the water right up to his neck.
In this photo Mr Wade’s box bed is just behind me. 
We went outside again and I had a little rest as my legs were starting to feel a bit tired.
The model village next the ‘harbour’ was full of tiny houses too small for bears. They were replicas as the ones that Mr Wade made are kept inside nowadays to stop them being damaged by the weather.
When we went into the manor house I found the original houses stored high up on some shelves.
There were several trunks inside the house with very complex locking mechanisms. This one is over 400 years old. I think it must have been very difficult to open without the key.
There weren’t any bears on display anywhere though I did find some other ancient animals and dolls locked up in a glass case. They all looked a bit worried.
Upstairs we found an amazing display of very old bicycles. I rather like this one, the seat looks just the right size for me. Unfortunately as everything is so very old I wasn’t able to try it out.
Here I am in front of a huge clock that was telling the wrong time!
I don’t know whether Mr Wade was able to play any musical instruments but he certainly collected many. 
I wondered whether all the buckets were there in case of fire or whether Mr Wade just liked buckets!
I tried to have a conversation with chap but I don’t think anyone was inside!
This is not a bear sized helmet!
After being inside the helmet I needed some fresh air so went outside to explore in the kitchen garden. The yellow courgettes were growing well.
There were some courgettes being sold on the produce table but my humans forgot to buy them; I think they got distracted by the lovely sweet peas in the bucket.
Sheep live in the field outside. They had all recently been shorn and so were looking quite thin.
I’m not sure what this plant is, but the bees certainly like it. 
Wandering back up to the entrance I managed to get caught up in a burdock plant. The humans managed to free me; then I carried a few seeds along with me a for while before brushing them off my fur. 
This was a good visit food wise. Before leaving it was necessary to have afternoon tea. Yum, yum, yum.
I was very keen to find the follies. Follies have a tendency to be of good size for bears. The first one I found was quite big though – The Eagle House.
I was jolly pleased to come across an adventure playground and stopped for while to play on the swing.
There was a little wicker house near the swing that the Queen sits in when she visits.
Nearby there was another folly. It took me a while to get up the steep steps to have a look inside.
I am fond of honey bees, so was very pleased to find some hives, and signs warning people to leave the bees alone. The bees were all asleep in the hive for winter.
Further along the path a magificent fairy tale castle was perched right up on top of an old tree stump. I wondered whether tiny bears might live there, but further inspection revealed that it had been carved out of the tree, so was solid inside. 
This little hut was just the right size for me. It is known as ‘The Hermitage’ and is a replica of the one that would have been there over 250 years ago.
I decided to spend a bit of time being thoughtful in The Hermitage.
There is a stream running through the garden with lots of ferns and mossy stones. I very much enjoy exploring such places, but the ground was very soggy and slippy making it difficult for me to remain standing (I was designed to sit) so I didn’t spend long there.
The plunge pool looked a bit cold and deep for bears. One of the nearby trees was wrapped in a blanket to protect it from frost.
I had a little paddle in the water that was feeding the plunge pool – wellies are jolly useful sometimes!
Here I am with another folly. It is rather splendid and makes me look very small.
The maze is a more recent addition to the rococo garden. I studied it for a while before entering it as did not wish to get stuck in there!
I peeped up over the hedge a few times and my humans managed to get a photo of me! 
Wet snow was starting to fall so I was very pleased indeed to come across this little house to shelter in.
Before we left I had one last look at the beautiful snowdrops.
I very much enjoyed visiting Painswick Rococo Garden – a good place for bears and their humans; I think young humans would probably like it too.
We walked around the rest of the gardens, though at this time of the year most plants are still asleep for winter. Here is a selfie of me with the Dove Cote behind me; you might be able to spot a dove peeping out of the window. 
The former owner of Snowshill Manor used to collect things, such as penny farthing bicycles. The Manor House was shut though (as the estate was only open for snowdrop viewing), so I will have to make sure the humans return in the summer in order to fully explore. All the benches that people sit on in summer were stored inside this barn. 
On the way back I climbed up onto a dry stone wall for a photo shoot. I am quite fascinated by the way snow sticks to some things and not to others. The snow seemed to like the wall. 
Another feature I enjoy are National Trust produce tables where plants and vegetables grown on the premises are offered for sale by a donation. I chose several pots of snowdrops to take home; I do hope they grow in my city garden.
